Collaborating across campus is inherent in student work at Allegheny College. Seemingly disparate majors and minors work together all the time to ensure students learn to see the world and its challenges as interconnected.
When Assistant Professor Jesse Swann-Quinn traveled to Germany with Julia Ludewig, Associate Professor of German, students spent three weeks studying the European Union’s leader in sustainability. The country has a long history of environmentalism, while at the same time being a leader in resource extraction. This intersects with all other forms of cultural and political history, making it a unique case for study.
A lot of sustainability is about efficiency, reducing resource use, and reducing waste. Looking at the German models gave insight to different economic systems and material systems that are more circular rather than linear. Swann-Quinn says “The ability to study how another country approaches ecological economics offers students evidence that it’s possible to prioritize the environment over radical GDP growth.”
